The First Encounter
by Waywatcher
Summary: AU. Gender-bender. One-Shot. Robyn, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling, Crow. Together they are one of the strongest superhero teams ever created, but every team had to be created somehow. This is the first encounter. This is the origin of the Teen Titans.


**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans. Starfire is gonna be OOC for the majority of this story, but that's cause he's in warrior-mode. I always thought it odd how the main universe Starfire was a kick-ass warrior for most of "Go!", but became all bubbly and cute at the end. So the same thing is gonna happen here. Don't get me wrong, I love the episode "Go!", I just thought it was kinda odd.**

 **Of course, the events of this universe are different from the main one, so there will be changes, and I mean aside from the fact that Changeling is overpowered, Crow is next to useless half the time, Cyborg is barely in the stories, and Robyn and Starfire are used poorly 'cause they're tough to write, because that seems to be norm in my gender-bender stories.**

* * *

A deep roar echoed throughout the ship. A feral noise that bounced off the walls and rebounded multiple times to assault the ears.

"The door will hold?" A shadowed figure asked warily, eyeing the hardened steel door. He gripped his spear tightly and tensed his muscles, as if expecting the prisoner to break loose at any second.

"It must." A second figure replied, looking through the small, barred opening at the figure inside. He too had his spear at the ready, and did not take his eyes off the creature inside the cell.

The two green, spear-wielders jumped in surprise upon hearing something slam against the dull-grey door. They continued to flinch each time another strike was landed. After a few minutes of abuse, the door stopped shaking as the blows halted.

The Gordainians shared uneasy looks as the silence stretched longer and longer.

 **BANG!**

If the gordainians had expected the prisoner to smash down the door, they were sorely disappointed. Instead, the orange-skinned boy punched right through the titanium walls, as titanium is much easier to break than hardened steel.

The lizard-like gordainians backed away in horror as the prisoner jerked forward and out of his cell, head drooped down low.

"Rek-na." The boy whispered, a hint of amusement in his voice. _"Stupid"_

The gordainians leveled their spears. They fully understood what the boy was saying, and while it wasn't threatening it certainly would not be getting better.

"Gordainian-daz no clorgad mic rek-na?" The prisoner continued darkly, taking a step forward. _"Gordainians, how could you be this stupid?"_

The guards gulped as they prepared to defend themselves.

The prince of Tamaran looked up at his captors with a neutral expression. Suddenly, his face contorted to anger and he shouted "Tasna mar han colgari, norgag regoba?!" as he lunged forward. _"You know I can punch through titanium, so why did you make the walls out of it?!"_

The gordainians didn't have time to reflect on the crappy design of their prison cells as the orange boy quickly closed the distance between them.

###

"Well, this night just got ten times more interesting." The martial artist grunted as she watched a green comet streak through the sky. She was forced to steady herself a moment later as a shockwave nearly knocked her off her feet.

Cracking her knuckles, the masked girl dashed out of the back-ally, leaving the thief she had apprehended tied to a lamppost.

"I just hope "interesting" doesn't mean painful."

###

"Rotha!"

The voice sounded loud in Robyn's ears as she closed in on the scene. The civilians were still there and, while startled, they didn't seem particularly worried at the moment.

Good. That meant whatever it was might be friendly.

The martial artist landed on the roof of a skyscraper and looked down with her binoculars. There was a large crater in front of the pizza shop, and an odd-looking boy in fancy handcuffs with an enraged expression standing in the middle of it.

Surrounding the crater were the civilians. Most were backing away slowly, but the more stupi- err, brave of the group decided it would be an absolutely fabulous idea to snap pictures of this random pissed-off alien.

" **GAL-ROTHA EPINON MANGAR!** "

God-damnit. Sometimes Robyn swore these people had death wishes.

As everyone else screamed and ran, the martial artist dived off her perch and shot down to ground level as fast as humanly possible. She flared her cape a few seconds before landing to halt her momentum and touched-down softly and silently behind the alien.

The orange boy was yelling what Robyn presumed to be obscenities as he beat his cuffed fists on the poll supporting the upper level of the pizza place.

Well. At least he wasn't attacking PEOPLE, but holy cow! He was strong! That support was made from solid steel, and he was bending it like play-doh with the force of his blows.

As much as Robyn didn't want to, she figured that it was necessary to confront the orange-skinned powerhouse. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the martial artist prepared for the worst.

###

 _"Stupid. Gordainian. Handcuffs!"_ The tamaranian thought to himself as he continued to slam his trapped fists on the poll in front of him. _"How is it that they can't make a proper prison cell, but their handcuffs are unbreakable?!"_

He pulled back his fists for another swing, but was interrupted by something sharp and metal colliding with his M-shaped crown and knocking it clean off his head.

Letting out a hiss, the prince whirled around to face his assailant. He sunk down into what resembled a sumo pose while eyeing his opponent carefully.

The girl standing across the street from him looked rather young. She wore an odd costume that consisted of bright reds, greens, and yellows, along with a small eye-mask.

"Halt! I have no wish to fight you!" The girl called out, raising both hands to show she was unarmed.

Of course, the prince saw this much differently.

"Jonda bar naga!" He cried, lunging at the martial artist. _"You shall fall sorcerer!"_

Robyn's eyes widened and she dropped to the ground, allowing the alien boy to dive right over her and smashed face-first into a stone wall.

"So much for talking." The girl muttered, pulling out her bo-staff. She gave it an expert twirl before settling into a crouched battle stance.

The tamaranian picked himself up off the concrete and shook his head vigorously. He spun around to face his foe once more and growled threateningly.

"One last chance." Robyn warned, raising her staff.

The prince hissed.

"As you wish." The martial artist sighed; she immediately took three quick steps forward and whacked the boy on the side of his head with her staff.

The prince didn't even budge. His gaze burned into the girl as she backed up a step, realizing her attack had done nothing.

Robyn was shocked to see her staff had shattered. She dropped the pieces and flipped backwards. Landing lightly, she pulled out three birdarang in each hand and threw them rapidly at the tamaranian.

Starfire dropped low, almost doing a full split and planting his cuffed hands firmly on the ground as the sharp objects wizzed over his head. Not bothering to get back up, he pushed off with all four limbs and rocketed headlong into Robyn's stomach.

The martial artist let out a loud "oof!" as the significantly larger tamaranian knocked the wind out of her and sent them both crashing to the ground. Her head smack the concrete hard, and her vision fuzzed over for a few seconds.

When her sight returned, she saw the orange boy crouching over her. His trapped hands were raised high over his head as he prepared to swing at her head.

 _"This might be it."_ Robyn thought to herself, gritting her teeth over a pounding headache. _"Taken out by an alien in handcuffs."_

###

"Idiots, both of you."

Robyn and the prince stopped their little wrestling match to glance over at the figure standing just inside one of the alleyways. He had a violet cloak covering his form, not letting them see any details.

His raspy voice came out again.

"As much as I'm tempted to ignore this little squabble, I suppose it would be for the best if a random alien didn't rampage through the city."

A chill passed through the prince's body, making him shiver. Suddenly, a dark aura enveloped his form and sent him flying down the street. He slammed directly into a bright-red sports car, denting the hood severely and smashing the windshield.

The cloaked boy walked quietly to Robyn's side as she picked herself up off the ground.

"My name is Crow, yours?"

"Robyn." The martial artist replied, equally curt.

They watched the orange boy haul himself out of the car, breaking the door and roof in the process.

"Resilient, isn't he?" Crow muttered. From beneath his hood a dark glow could been seen as his eyes lit up with arcane power.

"Yeah." Robyn agreed, cracking her neck and pulling out another birdarang. "Guess we need to hit him a bit more."

From down the street, the prince stared spitefully at his foes. Struck with sudden inspiration, he raised his trapped hands in the air before bringing them down to meet the road with a resounding "CRACK!"

The martial artist staggered as the ground shook. Crow was knocked off clean off his feet and fell roughly on his butt.

"Oh my..." Robyn grunted, regaining her balance. "I'm glad that wasn't my head."

"We got bigger problems." Crow whispered, eyes flaring with power as he erected a shield.

Not a moment later a series of green energy bolt slammed into the black barrier with astounding force, courtesy of the alien prince's newly freed hands. Cracks rapidly appeared in the arcane shield, and sweat started pouring down the cloaked boy's face. He quickly brought up his hands and allowed his power to be channeled through them as well to strengthen the shield.

"This won't work for long!" Crow warned, his whole body shaking with the strain. "Think of something fast!"

Acting quickly, Robyn pulled out smoke pellets from her belt.

"Drop!" She roared and slammed the black spheres into the concrete.

Crow didn't question the order and followed it immediately. His chin met the floor unceremoniously as his shield broke and the smoke cloud covered himself and his ally.

There was relative silence for a few seconds, the only sound heard being the hiss of the smoke pellets. He didn't even hear Robyn escaping the smoke cloud and jumping up to the pizza shop balcony.

A young, but threatening voice broke the silence.

"Rowth moh canva." _"Found you."_

Crow's breath left him as the powerful alien dragged him out of the smoke cloud, which was only five meters in diameter, by his hood. He then reached down to grab him by the neck and hoisted him to eye level. As he was doing so, the sorcerer couldn't help but notice his wrists were still stuck together, only his hands had been freed.

"Quarten saf pomen." _"Next time, get more smoke."_

The prince quickly started swinging Crow around in circles, building up momentum, before abruptly letting go and sending the unlucky sorcerer flying down the street at high speeds.

"Crow!" Robyn called out in alarm.

###

 _"So, there's some crazy alien dude fighting a martial arts chick and a wizard on a main city road in broad daylight. Should I help? I mean, they look like they've got it cover- Oh. That's bad."_

The green girl's eyes went wide when she saw the alien pick the wizard off the ground and chuck him down the street like he was doing the hammer throw.

"That's my cue I guess." She muttered to herself as she morphed into a tiger and dashed out of her hiding place, which was another side-alley several blocks in the direction Crow had been thrown.

Angling herself carefully, the shapeshifter leapt into the air and switched to gorrila form. She intercepted the flying wizard on a 45 degree angle which sent them both rolling to the side, but reduced their speed drastically with very little harm done.

Wrapping her arms tightly around the ridiculously thin frame of the wizard, the girl winced when she felt her shoulder make contact with the concrete. She rolled continuously to reduce their momentum until her back impacted against the wall on the far side from where she had started.

 _"That hurt."_ The girl thought as the wizard squirmed against her grasp. _"Hopefully he felt less pain then I did."_

###

Crow felt sick. VERY sick.

Just a moment ago he had been barreling through the air, spinning and flailing, the next he was slammed into by something green and furry, and after that he and the green creature had rolled several times until they hit the wall.

 _"It's not that I'm not grateful."_ The sorcerer though to himself as he tried to stop the world from spinning despite his stationary position. _"But I really don't feel so well after that..."_

He was vaguely aware of the creature's continued grip around his stomach as he tried, and failed, to stand. He couldn't even break out of its grip, though he somewhat doubted his capacity to actually stay upright if he did break free.

"You alright?"

Crow was surprised to hear a clearly feminine voice coming from behind him. Now that he was paying attention, he also noticed that the creature had gone from big and furry to basically human. A green human, but he wasn't exactly normal either, so who was he to judge?

"Feel. Sick." The sorcerer replied, trying again to stand as the girl released him.

Almost immediately he fell over. The girl quickly slipped her arm around his chest and under his shoulders to keep him from hitting concrete. This afforded her a quick look under his hood. She was quite surprised to see a pale, gaunt teenaged face.

Hauling him upright, the green girl allowed the cloaked boy to use her arm as a means of balance as he took a few shaky steps.

"My thanks." He said, nodding to her and releasing her arm.

"No problem!" She said cheerily.

"Hey! You two!"

The two teenagers turned to see the martial artist throwing birdarangs at the alien. The alien promptly responded by sending a barrage of energy bolts her way.

"Stop flirting and help me already!"

"We're not-!"

"You got it boss girl!" Changeling interrupted, charging down the street with Crow staggering behind her.

###

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold the phone!"

Changeling and Crow screeched to a halt as a large figure in a massive jacket stepped out onto the street. Judging by the voice, she too was a girl.

"Ninja chick, space dude, STOP."

The figure walked right up to the fight and grabbed both combatants by their wrist, effectively preventing further blows.

"I don't know what the heck you two are doing, but it stops now or you answer to me."

The alien didn't understand the exact wording, but he seemed to get the message. A snarl manifested itself on his face, but he relaxed his muscles and lowered his head, showing that he was submitting.

Robyn growled in irritation, but stopped trying to swing at the the orange boy.

"Good."

The figure released the two fighters, who eyed each other warily.

"Now what the heck was this all about?"

Robyn pointed at the alien. "He dropped from the sky and started smashing things, I tried to stop him."

"I helped, but got thrown down the street." Crow added, coming up behind Robyn.

"And I saved him." The green girl said proudly, standing behind the sorcerer. "You're really thin, and bony. You know that?"

Crow pulled his hood further down his face.

"Why was he trashing things?" The figure asked, addressing Robyn.

"Dunno." The martial artist said bluntly. "Maybe the handcuffs?"

She indicated the remaining wrist restraint binding the alien's hands together.

"Did you consider HELPING him instead of fighting?" The figure said in exasperation.

"Uh... Maybe?" Robyn squeaked, looking a bit embarrassed.

The orange boy watched all of this with a bit of fear. Were they talking about him? Were they going to contact the Gordainians? Was he going to be a slave again?

He jumped slightly when he was addressed by his first foe, the strange girl in red and green. He took a step back when she pulled out an odd metal poll, less than a few feet long.

"Stay still." The girl said, lowering the poll to touch the center of his restraints.

What did that mean?! The alien panicked. Was it a threat? Was it a challenge? Was it-?

Clang.

The prince looked down to see his restraints lying on the ground, no longer binding his wrists. He raised his gaze to look at the girl still standing in front of him, though he took note of the other three standing around them.

"See? Friend."

What did that-? Oh, Xhal he was stupid. What hadn't he just absorbed her language before? That could have saved them lots of time.

Taking a quick step forward and grabbing the sides of Robyn's head, the prince brought his mouth to meet hers.

"Woh-ho!" The large figure laughed.

The green girl whistled. "Damn, beat the crap out of him and get a kiss? Pretty good deal."

Crow shook his head. "Aliens."

###

"I'm not sure what you were thinking, but generally you don't punch hot boys in the nose."

Robyn glowered at the green girl, who had introduced herself as Changeling.

"He kissed me! He kissed me! What did you think I was going to do?!" The martial artist fumed.

"Uh, kiss him back?" The large figure, Cyborg, offered.

"NO!" Robyn hissed. "He can't try to kill me and get a kiss for it!"

"He wasn't going to kill you." Changeling reminded her. "He was just trying to knock you out. He didn't know how frail human beings are."

"Gee, that's a great excuse. He didn't know he was killing us. That makes everything better." Robyn muttered sarcastically.

Changeling sighed at the martial artist's biting sarcasm, before turning around to address the boys. "Are you two okay?"

"Fine." The alien replied from his seat on a simple metal bench as he rubbed his nose. "Apparently humans do not hit very hard."

"I don't feel like I'm going to throw up anymore. That's a plus." Crow said quietly, facing away from the group.

"Yay!" Changeling cried, dramatically wrapping her arms around both males, electing a grunt from the prince and a sharp intake of breath from Crow. "All better!"

"You are very strange, and I speak not only of your look." The prince said bluntly.

The green girl paused for a moment before removing one of her arms from around the orange boy.

"I'm starting to see why Robyn punched you."

Cyborg cleared he throat, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Now I ain't sure bout' the rest of you, but I wanna hear exactly why mr. plasma battery over here is on our planet in the first place."

The four teens turned to stare at the alien boy.

"Well-" The prince started before he was cut off by a loud voice.

"Greetings people of earth."

The five teens turned to see a hologram of a giant lizard thing towering over the city.

"That is why." The prince said, pointing at the hologram.

"Do not be alarmed, we are here hunting an escaped prisoner. Do not interfere, and we will leave your planet with only minimal damage."

The hologram disappeared, leaving no ugly lizard people to block the view of the FREAKING MASSIVE BATTLESHIP flying over the city.

"Oh. Well that's a thing." Changeling said, obviously awed.

They all watched as the battleship deposited a pill-like structure onto a small island out in the ocean. A moment later the structure rumbled before it commenced spewing out gordainians.

"Mass drop pod." The prince informed them as he hovered up a few feet and prepared a starbolt in each hand. "Let us welcome the Gordainians to Earth."

"Why?" Cyborg asked, cocking her head. "Who are these Gordainians, why are you so concerned about them?"

The alien boy sighed and returned to the ground, his starbolts dissipating. "They are- were, my captors."

"Captors? You were a prisoner? For what reason? " Robyn asked, suspicious. " _Is he some sort of criminal?_ "

"Not prisoner." The prince said miserably. "A prize. In order to prevent the Gordainians from invading my planet, my parents, king and queen, gave me to them as a prize. A peace offering. I was to live my life at the Citadel as their slave."

"That ain't right." Cyborg growled, cracking her knuckles. "Let's kick some but.

"You can say that again." Changeling said, deceptively calm. Her tensed muscles gave away her anger.

"Agreed." Crow muttered quickly, pushing team green girl's arm off his shoulders. "Count me in."

"Five against who knows how many?" Robyn chuckled, motioning for the prince to lead on. The orange boy did so with gusto, charging off with a streak of green energy towards the center of the city. "I'm starting to think we're a bit crazy."

"Fairly sure 'crazy' is the definition of being a hero." Changeling laughed before shifting into a horse and galloping down the street after the prince.

Robyn shook her head and followed along behind; Cyborg and Crow close at her heels.

###

The city was quiet and the streets were abandoned. Dropped newspapers littered the streets, and the lights of the city were turned off. No one wanted to become a target for the gordainians.

A huff could be heard from an alleyway near the pizza shop. If one were to look inside they would see a squad of lizard people shooting up an old, green garbage bin.

The orange shots blew large holes in the container, which sent trash flying everywhere. The squad of gordainians, six strong, lowered their weapons when they didn't find their quarry inside the trash bin.

Growling in annoyance, the squad leader barked a command. The group of lizard men spun about to begin marching out of the alley.

They were rudely interrupted by five super-powered teens standing at the entrance.

"Seriously, a trash bin? He might have low standards considering his choice of people to kiss, but I'd like to think he wouldn't hide there." Changeling chuckled, pointedly stretching and showing off her fangs.

"EXCUSE ME?" Robyn shouted, turning her head away fraction of an inch to glare at the green girl.

"Ladies, ladies, you're all pretty. Can we focus now?" Cyborg sighed, massaging her fists.

"No! I'm not taking an insult from an elf with bad fashion sense!" The martial artist protested, indicating Changeling's black and purple jumpsuit.

"Says the traffic light." The green girl chuckled, turning to face Robyn.

The gordainians watched this queer argument with a level of amusement. If all Earth heroes squabbled like this, then it would be easy to turn this hunt into a take-over.

However, as they were watching the girls argue they failed to notice the trash bin they had been shooting become enveloped in black energy and float into the air above their heads.

The bin came down with a crash, hitting all six gordainians on their heads and knocking them out cold.

"I was hoping this was going to involve more punching..." The prince complained, seeing their foes unconscious.

"Too bad." Crow said curtly. He turned to address the girls, who had stopped arguing. "Good job."

Changeling grinned before glancing at Robyn. "Told you it would work."

"Never said it wouldn't." The martial artist muttered. "It was the seducing plan that I disagreed with."

"You think I can't?" The green girl challenged, smirking. "I'm green, just like them!"

"Correct." Robyn said bluntly. "You still look too different."

"I'm gonna have to agree with Rob here Changeling, I don't think you can pull it off." Cyborg said, agreeing with a sigh. "Not even on humans. You just couldn't."

"I could prove it." The shapeshifter offered, glancing sidelong at the boys with a catlike grin.

Crow felt her gaze on him and shifted uncomfortably. He turned to face away from the group and tugged his hood lower on his face once again.

The prince just returned the look, watching the girls obvious curiosity.

"As... _Interesting_ as that would be, we have other priorities." Robyn said slowly, eyeing the shapeshifter. "We need a way to get up to the main gordainians ship."

"I can fly." The prince offered. "You human do not weigh much, I could manage."

"I could turn into a pteranodon and fly someone." Changeling said.

"I can already levitate." Crow informed bluntly.

Robyn fumed, her face turning slightly red. "Why didn't you say that before!"

"You never asked." The sorcerer replied curtly.

"Shut it smartass." The martial artist growled.

"Pardon?" Crow asked dangerously, his eyes narrowing.

"You heard me." Robyn hissed in return, putting her hands on her hips and grimacing at the pale boy.

"Chill out you two." Cyborg said, stepping in between them. "No need to get all mad 'bout the fact some of us can fly."

"It's not that!" The martial artist shouted, glaring at the metallic teen. "It's his damn attitude."

"Not sure if ya've noticed, but you ain't exactly prim n' proper either." Cyborg replied in a sour tone, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, and you're any better?" Robyn snarked.

"You're getting mad at me now?!" The half-robot said indignantly, crossing her arms. "The hell did I do?"

"You're acting just like Crow."

"Oh, so I'm a measure of behavior now?" The sorcerer hissed, glaring at Robyn.

"Yeah, I think so!" The martial artist shouted back.

"This is going nowhere fast." Changeling stated with no small amount of annoyance.

"Please, how can you go nowhere with great speed?" The prince asked, looking confused.

"It's a figure of speech dude." The green girl sighed.

"I was not aware you could see speech. How can it be a figure if it isn't visible?"

Facepalm.

"I'll explain later." Changeling groaned. "Just help me shut these guys up for a sec'. Kay?"

The prince nodded. Both teens took a deep breath as they approached their squabbling friends before shouting "WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?!" at the top of their lungs.

The argument stopped immediately as Crow, Robyn and Cyborg all turned to look guiltily at Changeling and the prince.

"We don't have time for this!" The green girl snapped. Crow swore he could see smoke coming out of her ears as she boiled in anger. "We have a city to save, and you're wasting time arguing over someone's sarcasm?!"

They all looked quite ashamed as Changeling towered over them. The prince stood slightly behind her with a slightly amused expression.

 _"Just like the warrior girls back home."_ He thought ruefully, while silently laughing as the shapeshifter scolded the behavior of her new friends.

"Hey, alien dude!"

The prince snapped out of his daze when Changeling called his name.

"You carry your girlfriend kay? I'll take Cy!"

"I'm not-!" Robyn's voice was cut off as she was hoisted into the air at high speeds by the orange prince.

Changeling and Crow followed along behind, with Cyborg dangling from Changeling's talons.

The five teens soared through the air, the wind whipping in their faces and pushing hair into their eyes. It didn't take long to find the battleship, it was easily as large as several city blocks, and stood out against the blue sky due to it's ugly yellow paint job.

"Let's hope they don't see us coming." Cyborg shouted over the roar of the wing and engines combined.

Changeling cawed in agreement. Her eyes searched the titanium monstrosity for an opening to land in.

"Get up close!" Crow called out, struggling to be heard.

"What?" Robyn shouted, cupping a hand to her ear.

"Tell the alien and Changeling to get closer to he ship! Right up against a wall!" The sorcerer called again.

The martial gave a thumbs up to show her understanding before relaying the message to the prince, who in turn tells the shapeshifter.

The request is no issue for the prince or the sorcerer. They had nothing stopping them from pulling right up against the metal wall. Changeling is a different story, she struggled to make sure her wings didn't strike the metal while still staying within a decent distance of the moving metal machine.

"Is this acceptable?" The prince asked.

"Yes, give me a moment." Crow muttered. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Everyone else was shocked when a black energy blossomed out from the center of Crow's forehead and reached out to envelope all of them. A moment passed in which the teens felt the cold sensation of being covered in dark magic. The darkness then lifted to reveal that they were now inside the gordainian ship.

"That was... Unpleasant." The prince commented, shivering as he put down Robyn.

"Nice one Crow!" Changeling chirped as she placed Cyborg on the floor and returned to human form. "Neat trick!"

The sorcerer was silent. Everyone looked at him curiously as he started to sway in place.

"Uh... Crow?" Cyborg asked, worried. "You okay?"

"Just... Tired." The boy whispered before keeling over.

Changeling caught him before he hit the floor. She put him down against the wall as she checked to make sure he was okay. She tugged his hood off and leaned close.

"Irregular breathing, excessive sweating, twitching..." The girl muttered, putting her ear near his mouth while running a finger against his neck. "Racing pulse..." Gently, the green girl picked him back up, cradling his frail form in her arms.

"He is sleeping?" Starfire inquired curiously.

"No. Unconscious." Changeling informed them, holding the sorcerer closer in concern. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion and worry, the only sign that she had noticed an additional problem with the smaller boy, though she didn't bring it to the attentions of her other teammates. "Knocked himself out by bringing us in here. Over-exertion."

She didn't elaborate further than that, and had no plan to before she spoke with Crow privately.

"Really?" Robyn asked. "He looked fine earlier."

 _"I don't think he's been "fine" for a while."_ The green girl thought, but kept that to herself. "I guess going through that wall really took it out of him. I'll keep him safe until he wakes up."

"Right. We have a job to do." The martial artist said, taking control of the situation. "We came in from the left side relative to the command station. We need to go up and in that direction." She pointed away from their entry point. "Be stealthy if you can, we have time, so don't rush and mess up."

Everyone nodded. The prince wasn't happy at the lack of violence in the plan, these gordainians deserved a beating at every given opportunity in his mind, but he didn't argue with Robyn's plan. He understood the reasoning behind it, even if he disagreed.

###

Clank, clank, clank.

The squad of guards walked down the hall to the engine room. They marched in sync, moving slower than necessary in order to stay symmetrical.

Stupid gordainian army training. The idea is to make your soldiers BETTER, but I digress.

Anyways, the guards marched slowly past several other passageways and doors before reaching the engine room. The door slid open, allowing a disturbingly large amount of steam to come out, and the squad walked inside.

Silence... Then:

"Damnit Cy, get your foot out of my face!"

One of the doors fell open, and five teens came spilling out in a heap.

"Careful guys! I don't wanna drop him!"

"Hey! Get your hands off me alien boy!"

"That looks rather suggestive."

"My apologies. If it is any consolation, you are a very comfy pillow."

The group quickly extracted themselves from one another and walked swiftly down the hall in the direction the gordainians had come from. The hall was very long, and their steps echoed off the walls creating the illusion that there were others walking behind them.

"Robyn?" The prince asked quietly, tapping the martial artist on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Robyn hummed, glancing into an open doorway before tiptoeing past.

"I.. Uhh.. Bring you apologies for my earlier actions."

The martial artist spared a glance backwards at the orange boy. "No problem. I'd be pissed too if I was being sold off as a prize to some random alien scientists by ugly lizard people." She paused. "Never thought I'd say that.."

"Yes..." The prince said slowly. "But I was speaking about the... Lip contact. You seemed quite upset, so I felt the need to have myself pardoned."

"I'm not going to say sorry for slugging you." Robyn huffed. "But I understand why you did it, I hold nothing against you."

The alien gave a relieved smile. "My thanks! Your kindness is refreshing. I experienced little of it aboard this ship."

The martial artist gave him a side-long glance. "Just how long were you stuck here?"

"One of your earthly years."

"Oh..." Robyn muttered. "That sucks, royally."

"Please, how can a verb be royalty?"

"Figure of speech- Umm... I just realized we never got your name."

"It is Koriander. Starfire in your language."

"Well then Starfire, remind me to teach you about common figures of speech, 'cause not much will make sense unless you know them."

"I shall endeavor to remember."

"That's really great." Cyborg interrupted sarcastically. "Now how 'bout you two "endeavor" to GET YO ASSES MOVING! We're on a damn spaceship with angry lizard men everywhere!"

"Don't be so uptight Cy." Changeling chuckled. "I thought their talk was kinda cute."

The metallic teen gave a sigh of exasperation as she glanced into another doorway. "Where is your survival instinct girl? I thought you said you were part animal?"

"I think I left it back on the ground back at the pizza place. I'm so hungry..."

"Do none of you have a serious bone in your bodies?" Cyborg groaned, slapping a hand over her face.

"I'd like to think I do."

Everyone immediately turned to look at Crow, who was still being held by Changeling. His eyes were half open, and he gazed around warily.

"You have awakened!" Starfire exclaimed happily. "Are you feeling the alright?"

"Not really, but it'll have to do." The sorcerer muttered, raising a hand to massage his forehead. "Where are we going?"

"Command station. Shouldn't be much longer." Cyborg informed him, tapping a map on her wrist. "I downloaded the blueprints when you were knocked out. These guys have awful security, and I don't just mean for their computers. Just a few more hallways."

"I guess I'd better get up then." Crow sighed. He shifted position so that he was sitting up before planting his feet on the floor and standing unsteadily. He immediately grabbed Changeling's shoulder for support when he inevitably started to sway due to not fully recovering from his exhaustion.

"Easy there." Cyborg chuckled, "don't go fainting on us again."

"Yes, we may require your help in kicking the butt should something go wrong." Starfire added.

"Just hang back, I'm sure we can handle everything." Robyn said confidently as she turned around and continued to lead the way.

"Famous last words." Crow sighed, motioning for Robyn to lead on. Still leaning on his green friend, he and Changeling trudged along behind the martial artist and the prince, with the half-robot bringing up the rear.

###

"Hey Crow?" Changeling whispered, nudging the pale boy subtly.

"What?" Crow murmured in response, not even turning his head to look at her.

Changeling quickly glanced at the others, making sure they were all busy focusing on something else. She turned back to Crow and took a small breath before speaking.

"Were you living on the streets before this?"

The sorcerer stumbled. Changeling quickly stooped to catch him before he feel and helped him back to his feet.

"Wha-What makes you think that?!" He hissed, turning to stare suspiciously at the green girl.

"When I was checking to make sure you were okay after you feel unconscious, I couldn't help but notice that you're face is way too gaunt to be healthy. You're also way to thin and bony." To accent her point, she wrapped an arm around his stomach, showing that his shirt was hanging loose and concealing his ridiculously thin frame. His stomach wasn't even half as wide as the shirt it occupied. "You're built like a damn famine victim." She whispered, removing her arm from around his stomach and returning it to its previous position.

Crow was silent for a minute. The sound of the group's footsteps continued echoing off the titanium hallway, making the silence all the more worrying.

Finally, he spoke.

"Yes." He admitted quietly, his head drooping in something that resembled shame. "When I left my home and came to Eart- Jump, I wasn't exactly prepared for surviving without support. I didn't know much about money, and made a few bad deals when selling off some of my trinkets."

Changeling was silent, knowing an interruption would be seen as rude and possibly make him clam up.

"I resorted to petty theft for a bit, stealing scraps from restaurants mostly. One night the police found me, and I was forced to teleport away." A soft sigh escaped his lips. "They went on a damn manhunt after that, warning citizens about a cloaked demon roaming the streets. I couldn't return to my usual food sources, so I went hungry." He glanced down at his stomach. "I haven't eaten in five days atleast, haven't drank anything in more."

"How is that possible?" Changeling whispered. "Humans can't go more than three days without water."

"I'm only half human." Crow whispered, his voice so soft that even Changeling's incredible hearing could only barely pick it up.

"Half human, half what?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't perceive her question as intrusive.

"Let's hope you never have to find out."

###

"Lord Trogar, we have received a report that the prisoner was spotted, however the guards were knocked out by him and a group of earthlings." The lieutenant said stiffly, kneeling before a large gordainian two times the size of the others sitting on a small throne in the command room.

"What?" Trogar growled, standing up. "The earthlings DARE help our enemy?"

"Lord Trogar." Another gordainian walked into the room and knelt beside the lieutenant. "We have information on the earthlings. They are child heroes sir, minor ones. Their abilities include-"

"I do not care!" Trogar roared before sitting down and stroking his small beard. "Lieutenant, power up the particle blaster! We will teach these earthlings a lesson by destroying their pathetic city."

"Yes sir." The lieutenant said, rushing to his post.

"These children will not stop us. Their city will not survive the blast, but the tamaranian will. Have the troops on standby! They will continue their search once the city is vaporized!" The gordainian leader raged, slamming his fists on the arm rests of his throne.

A few seconds later he was knocked off his seat when the door exploded and flew across the room to smash into the window at the front.

"Yeah, we beg to differ." Robyn said casually, whilst stepping into the room twirling a bo-staff.

"No one vaporizes this city on MY watch." Cyborg agreed, cracking her metallic knuckles.

"Foul creatures! Feel the wrath of the prince of Tamaran!" Starfire cried. Charging in, he lunged at the closest gordanian.

"A good old-fashioned brawl." Changeling chuckled, a grin spreading across her face as she observed the chaos laid out in front of her.

Gordainians were being tossed aside due to the ridiculous strength of Starfire and Cyborg, while Robyn was busy dueling the leader. The yellow walls were becoming littered with dents and the control panels were sparking and smoking from the damaged they had sustained. The window at the front was beginning to crack as missed blows or flying lizard men repeatedly slammed into it.

"You just stay back and enjoy the show, eh Crow?" The green girl laughed, diving into they fray and lashing out with reckless abandon.

The sorcerer sighed while leaning against the doorway, watching his friends utterly demolish the group of lizard people. He shook his head when he noticed Changeling showing off by just barely avoiding attacks while striking poses; often as a monkey while standing on top of her foes' heads.

"This is hardly a fair fight." Crow huffed, rolling his eyes when Cyborg and Starfire teamed up to knock out a group of soldiers by throwing them so that they collided mid-air. "The only one putting up a decent fight is the leader..."

Speaking of the overgrown bastard, he was still squaring off against Robyn, who had been trying to batter him down with her staff. He would either block with his claws or flat-out dodge the attacks. Trogar was surprisingly fast considering his size.

The main problem was that Robyn was getting pissed off, her attacks were becoming more erratic and she was leaving gaping holes in her defense. Eventually, Trogar wised up to the martial artist's faults and exploited them with a vicious punch to the stomach followed up by grabbing her collar and throwing her against the window.

Robyn hit the window with a loud "Smack!", and slumped to the floor with one hand clutching her head, and the other her stomach. Trogar advanced on her menacingly, flexing his claws with a savage, toothy grin.

A moment later he was knocked aside from a flying kick delivered by a furious Starfire. The giant gordainian staggered back until his back hit the wall. He grabbed the left side of his ribcage and growled in irritation.

"Friend Cyborg! Please provide the cover!" The orange boy shouted, kneeling down to inspect Robyn.

The metallic girl nodded her understanding and tossed aside her current foes before running up to engage the giant lizard man.

"Nice job lizard-lips, you managed to beat a singular teenaged girl." Cyborg said sarcastically as she cracked her neck and settled into a boxing position. "Now, how 'bout you take me on? Cause I'm fairly sure Robyn has better things to do than entertain a walking suit of armor with the IQ of sand."

A vein pulsed in Trogar's head. Cyborg's taunts were not particularly good, but how dare a mere earthling use that tone with him?!

"Your death will be painful." The gordainian leader promised. "No one insults lord Trogar!"

"Oh ho! So it's LORD Trogar? Well, _milord_ , please excuse my actions. I was under the impression I was fighting a slave on steroids!"

"SILENCE!" Trogar roared, charging at the teen.

"Many thanks friend." Starfire whispered as he checked Robyn for serious injury. He could hear his metallic ally fighting off Trogar across the room, and judging by his enraged roars she was keeping his attention rather well.

The orange boy gently pressed his fingers against Robyn's arms and legs, constantly asking "does this hurt?" to the semi-conscious girl. Every time she would respond with a terse "no". That was until he got to her stomach, when he pressed his against her diaphragm she immediately hissed in pain.

"That is bad." Starfire murmured, picking up the martial artist bridal style, while ignoring her protests of being fine, and glancing around the battlefield. "We must get you out of here."

Noticing a small opening, the tamaranian quickly dashed across the room and skidded to a stop next to Crow.

With a quick "Take care of her" the prince of Tamaran leapt back into the battle in search of Trogar and Cyborg.

Crow knelt down next to Robyn. Taking a deep breath he drew upon his dark magic and brought healing energy to his fingertips.

"This won't do much for any bleeding that's already occured." The sorcerer informed her, "But it'll patch up any ruined tissue provided there is some of the appropriate kind for it to copy."

Robyn nodded and tugged up the hem of her shirt, allowing Crow to place his deathly cold hands on the bruised skin below.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." The sorcerer muttered. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Almost immediately Robyn breathed a sigh of relief upon feeling the dark energy flow to her diaphragm. Her breathing steadied, her eyes opened fully, and her thoughts became less erratic.

"Thanks Crow." She grunted. He nodded and removed his hands, looking even more haggard than normal. "Didn't know we had a doctor on the premises."

He gave a wry smile. "Took me a while to figure it out how to do it, dark magic isn't known to be very good at healing, so I had to get creative in order to do anything of the sort."

Robyn nodded, before forcing herself to her feet. "I'd love to hear all about it," She said, pulling out a birdarang in each hand. "But we have a fight to win. You'll have to tell me about it after."

Crow nodded, and watched her dive back into the fray. She cut a line directly to Changeling, who had been attracting most of the attention from the thugs. The green girl spared a moment returning to human form to shoot Robyn some sort of cocky greeting before the two set about giving every gordainian in a ten-foot radius a ringing headache.

"Star! Duck!" Cyborg called out, warning her orange friend and attracting to Crow's attention.

The tamaranian complied immediately, and stooped under a swing from the metallic teen which went on to smash directly into Trogar's face.

The giant gordainian reeled back in pain while grabbing his broken nose. "Enough of this!" He shouted, staring murderously at his current foes. "This is beneath me, I have a schedule to keep, and I'm already going to be late because of you." This was addressed at Starfire. "So if you insist on wasting my time, your city will pay the price!"

Leaping across the room and knocking Changeling and Robyn aside, Trogar slammed a fist down onto a large red button. The displays on the screens next to him started pulsing an ugly burgundy color.

"Game over heroes." He sneered. "I win."

Crow watched this unfold with a growing sense of horror. "The city is doomed." He muttered, staring at Trogar, who was taking on all four of his friends at once now that the grunts were all unconscious. The sorcerer's eyes narrowed, his frown turned into a snarl, and black energy started wafting off his hands. "Unless we can stop it. Unless _I_ can stop it."

His eyes became similar to his hands, as they too started emitting wisps of dark energy. His exhaustion all but forgotten in this time of need.

"Time to be a hero!"

Trogar and the other teens all stopped dead when they all felt an unearthly cold settle in their bones. They all turned to see the pale boy standing in the doorway, practically oozing dark magic.

"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" Crow roared, letting his power loose all at once.

To any citizen watching from outside, they would have thought the moon had suddenly eclipsed the sun. The sky darkened to almost completely black, even the sun's rays couldn't penetrate the oppressive darkness. A few moments later a giant explosion could be seen over the ocean, and a horribly scarred battleship fell from the sky to rest in the ocean.

###

"Crow?"

...

"Crow!"

...?

"C'mon Crow, wake up!"

...!

The sorcerer groaned as he regained consciousness once more. The burning sunlight was blocked by the figure of someone leaning over him. He squinted and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. When his eyesight cleared, he could make out Changeling's green eyes staring at him with concern.

"YOU'RE OKAY!" The green girl cried, immediately wrapping him in a tight hug. The pale sorcerer squirmed against her grasp, murmuring complaints, but Changeling ignored him completely and tugged him even closer.

Crow sighed in resignation, allowing the green girl's chin to rest on his head and his on her collarbone before closing his eyes to rest some more.

Robyn, Starfire, and Cyborg all watched on with smiles as the green girl clutched the frail sorcerer like he was a long lost lover rather than an acquaintance of only a few hours.

The five teens were situated on the small island housing the Gordainian drop pod, which was now vacant. All the lizard-like aliens had fled the planet in numerous smaller fighter ships or escape pods, leaving the orange tower behind.

Turning around to look at the wreckage of the gordainian ship out on the ocean, Cyborg spoke up.

"We made a good team, didn't we?" She said offhandedly. "I mean, we did stop group of angry geckos from vaporizing the city."

"Yes. I agree." Starfire spoke up, smiling brightly. "We kicked much of the butt."

"I wasn't looking to join a team after just going solo." Robyn mused, rubbing her chin. "But you four... Well, you're all something special. I feel like we've been friends for more than just an afternoon, and to be honest I'd feel kinda bad if I didn't see you guys again."

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Cyborg said, her smile growing larger.

"I believe I am." Robyn chuckled, pulling a few bat-shaped communicators out of her pocket. She held them out for the others to take.

"Cool..." Changeling whispered, inspecting the device with one hand while handing Crow his with the other.

"I'll make us our own communicators soon." Cyborg said, scanning the small black object. "But right now, I'm just happy to have friends to call upon."

"This is a most glorious day." Starfire said reverently, cradling his communicator like one would a baby.

Crow said nothing as he turned the device over in his hands, but a faint glimmer of happiness could be seen in his eyes.

Robyn stood before her friends with the sun setting behind her, cloak fluttering in the breeze. The others eventually stood (Crow needed a bit of help) to face her, all with smiles of triumph.

"When there's trouble." Robyn said, grinning larger than all the rest and holding up her communicator. "You know who to call."

* * *

 **One-shot complete. Villains beware, the Titans are here.**


End file.
